Bombing Iraq. Not what I voted for.

[TheKentuckian]

61. Hussein really was a wolf too. As was Gaddafi. There are all kinds of wolves.

Our actions so far have proven disastrous, including Obama's. Libya is orders of magnitude a greater mess and the games to piss of Putin and deprive Russia of seaports has no doubt played no small role in creating room and opposition while increasing resources and firepower for related groups in Syria which may right now being used to hunt down and torment these people in Iraq and if not certainly alleviated demand for supply and reinforcement so other could push.

No, it isn't just the boy crying wolf too many times but also the ineptitude at best and malicious intent at the worst points of the wolf killing crew that comes in and beds wolves and worse while generally fucking up far worse than the wolves ever thought of.

ISIS has no airforce, if they are a real threat to stability then we are not the only option by any stretch, the Saudis could mop this up themselves, the combined Arab forces would make child's play of the espoused operation. England and France both would have overwhelming air superiority (and England helped break it too), Russia loves taking these sorts out and could use the press if we'd allow it and maybe any of those other potential actors would find some way not to screw the pooch like we have at every turn.

No, big picture I don't see different. Not being stupid as Junior Bush or twisted as Cheney won't carry the day here. Hell, we can't really depend on good intentions because this is brought to us by the exact same folks funneling weapons and resources to the same folks across the border (that they don't give one shit about, by the way that is a figment of our imagination) and telling us for months they are moderates, they are anything but.

I am more fearful of ineptitude than malevolence here because if the broader actions aren't willfully seeking to further destabilize the region then we could accidentally open any number of gates to Hell scrambling to "do something".
The handling and choices for operations in the region are not the same as BushCo but they have also been dangerously bad, further inflaming the area and fostering even more radical elements.

Folks need to stop stupidly celebrating and high fiving not getting into ground wars with Libya and or bombing Syria because doing either would be insanely stupid. It takes no over mind to avoid insanely stupid nor does it mean what actions that were taken were positive, not counter productive, or even weren't stupid and/or screwy themselves because yes Operation Enduring and Ever Expanding clusterfuck continues even under new management.

There is no indication whatsoever that we have any idea what we are doing over there unless the end game is a complete meltdown.

Nope, we bring noting operationally special to the table here except a reverse Midas touch. There is always a noble hook that can be baited but the hole keeps getting deeper and we get cave ins on our heads no matter who digs, no more digging seems best.

We have very plausibly already unleashed World War III and aren't about to stop it so we need to stop accelerating it and hope there is enough blow back to the radicals that the movement implodes are is strangled internally but we are not helping.